Former Washington Post reporter Ruth Marcus grew distraught over how Hillary Clinton is blowing it a Sunday column titled "More money, more problems." She began: "Dear Secretary Clinton, Please consider this in the nature of a friendly intervention. You have a money problem. It’s time to deal with it before it gets worse." She repeats that twice with greater and greater emphasis.
"The issue isn’t that you’re rich, or even that you and your husband became rich after leaving office," it's that Hillary is both greedy and whiny:
They have a problem with wealthy candidates who are whiny and/or defensive about their wealth; who are greedy and/or ostentatious in their acquisition and display thereof; or whose wealth makes them, or makes them appear to be, out of touch with the concerns of everyday people. Your difficulties, at the moment anyway, appear to be chiefly in the first two categories: defensiveness and greed.
These categories parallel my suggestion of twin money problems — talk and action. You must stop answering money questions in a way that makes matters worse!
The emphasis is all hers. Marcus wrote Hillary "stepped in it again" when The Guardian asked how she could be a credible voice against income inequality.
The question might have been unfair in its stated assumption that voters see you as part of the problem, butyour answer was a doozy. “But they don’t see me as part of the problem,” you replied, “because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well-off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work.”
Okay, perhaps I should repeat myself, a little louder. YOU MUST STOP ANSWERING MONEY QUESTIONS IN A WAY THAT MAKES MATTERS WORSE!
And for goodness’ sake — truly well-off? hard work? You are truly well-off by anyone’s definition of the term. And hard work is the guys tearing up my roof right now. It’s not flying by private jet to pick up a check for $200,000 to stand at a podium for an hour.
Touche. Marcus also demanded that Hillary stop raking in the six-figure speech fees if she's going to run for the White House: "Which gets me to the second set of issues: how you’re continuing to -vacuum up the money, and the aura of greediness it exudes. Madam Secretary, enough already. This behavior borders on compulsion, like refugees who once were starved and now hoard food. You’re rich beyond your wildest imaginings! You don’t need any more! Just. Stop. Speaking. For. Pay."
She concluded: "Fix this now, or decide not to run. Then you can rake in the fees to your heart’s content."
